This invention relates to inflatable containers of flexible sheet material, and more specifically to an inflatable container of the type having a peripheral side wall and two end walls, each designed to provide maximum insulating characteristics.
Heretofore in the field of inflatable containers of this sort, containers have been formed by bonding together a pair of flat resilient sheets in a manner to result in a plurality of parallel elongate inflatable tubes, the parallel tubes being interconnected at one or both ends thereof in a manner to equalize the pressure therein. The resulting structure has sufficient structural rigidity in the axial direction of the elongate tubes, but has essentially no resistance to bending in the direction transverse to the elongate tubes. Additionally, and more importantly, much of the surface area comprises actually the axial bonding strips which bond the two sheets together between the elongate tubes, thereby severely reducing the effective surface area of the thermal insulating surface. Additionally, when a structural container is made from a light weight, flexible material, it becomes difficult to attach a handle or other means for carrying the container thereto because of the areas of concentrated tension and sheer stress on the flexible material at the points of attachment of the handle thereto. To overcome this deficiency, the handles are attached to the flexible material by being axially attached to a rigid structural member positioned on the opposite side (underside) of the flexible material in a manner to dissipate the sheer forces created at the points of connection of the handle to the container. This structural member has the negative effects of adding to the bulkiness and overall weight of the container and more importantly eliminating, or at least severely restricting, the ability of the inflatable container to be folded up into a compact size upon deflation.
Accordingly, it has been considered highly desirable to provide an inflatable container which affords increased thermal insulating surface area between the interior and exterior thereof, while simultaneously providing an improved means for carrying the container which avoids the prior art problems of highly concentrated areas of sheer stress at the points of attachment of a handle to the container.